Fire extinguisher

ABSTRACT

D R A W I N G A REFILLABLE HAND FIRE EXTINGUISHER COMPRISED OF A BLOWMOLDED THERMOPLASTIC GLASS-FIBER REINFORCED PLASTIC, EXTINGUISHING-MATERIAL-CONTAINING BOTTLE, ON THE MALE BUTTRESSTHREADED NECK OF WICH A LEVEL-VALVED DISCHARGE NOZZLE AND HAND GRIP HEAT IS TREADED AND SEALED TO THE BOTTLE, WITH A RADIALLY PORTED IS THREADED AND SEALED TO THE BOTTLE, HEAD COAXIALLY SPACED FROM A DISCHARGE RISER TUBE MOUNTED IN THHE NECK AND EXTENDING TO THE BOTTLE BOTTOM; A REPLACEABLE ELONGATED PRESSURIZED CO2 GAS CARTRIDGE, COAXIALLY MOUNTED IN THE DISCHARGE TUBE BY ITS PIERCEABLE HEAD THREADED INTO THE BOTTOM END OF THE VALVE INLET NIPPLE; AND A RECIPROCABLE VALVING MEMBER CARRYING A CARTRIDGE PIERCING POINT. A VALVE SAFETYING WEDGE AND EXTINGUISHER STOWAGE FITTING, BOTH OF MOLDED PLASTIC, ARE ALSO SHOWN.

March 6, 1973 G. GUBELA FIRE EXTINGUISHER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March15, 1.971

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United States Patent 3,719,232 FIRE EXTINGUISHER Gunter Gubela,Poll-Vingster Strasse 150-160, Cologne, Kalk, Germany Filed Mar. 15,1971, Ser. No. 124,261 Claims priority, application Germany, Mar. 14,1970, P 20 12 142.0 Int. Cl. A62c 13/00 US. Cl. 169-31 P Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE A refillable hand fire extinguisher comprised of ablowmolded thermoplastic glass-fiber reinforced plastic,extinguishing-material-containing bottle, on the male buttressthreadedneck of which a lever-valved discharge nozzle and hand grip head isthreaded and sealed to the bottle, with a radially ported valve inletnipple integral on the head coaxially spaced from a discharge riser tubemounted in the neck and extending to the bottle bottom; a replaceableelongated pressurized CO gas cartridge, coaxially mounted in thedischarge tube by its pierceable head threaded into the bottom end ofthe valve inlet nipple; and a reciprocable valving member carrying acartridge piercing point. A valve safetying wedge and extinguisherstowage fitting, both of molded plastic, are also shown.

Hitherto self-discharging fire extinguishers have generally comprised,as the container for the fire extinguishing substance, a metal pressurevessel, usually of steel, which is subject to the danger of corrosion,especially though not exclusively, by the contents. Such extinguishersconsequently have required constant inspection and testing, and oftenafter a few years have become unusable.

By the present invention, hereinafter disclosed in a specific embodimentof a hand fire extinguisher, especially suitable for use in variousengine driven vehicles, such as automobiles, trucks, pleasurewatercraft, aircraft, as well as other environments, there is providedan extinguisher structure comprised principally of synthetic plasticcomponents which both overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of priorextinguishers and offer advantages in light weight, ease, and low costof fabrication, as well as other desirable characteristics.

In brief, the main container for the extinguishing material is apreferably glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic bottle, for example,blown from a heated tube of say polyethylene stock material into anappropriate mold, thereby attaining some desired form with uniform andincreased strength and rigidity. A valved nozzle and grip head assemblyincludes as its principal part an injection molded element of athermoplastic material such as polyethylene, providing integrally avalve body screwed onto the bottle neck, a discharge nozzle connectingthrough valve passages with the bottle, a hand grip element, and asupport for an internal pressurized gas cartridge.

Moreover, as hereinafter detailed, the bottom end of the discharge headbody element has such a cross section and is so concavely shapedrelative to a convex shape of a shoulder region below the bottle neckthat, in conjunction With the resiliency of the plastic body material,

3,719,232 Patented Mar. 6, 1973 p CC a good sealing relation isestablished when the head is screwed in place. Also to conduce to suchsealing and to compensate for tolerance in the threaded portions whichnecessarily are involved in manufacture, cooperating modified buttresstype, male and female threads are provided in the bottle neck and in thehead.

As hereinafter detailed, a readily assembled lever operated, returnspring biased, cartridge piercing pin, repicrocably mounted in a headmain passage coaxial of the threads, carries a valving element sealinglyengageable with a valve seat shoulder formed by a bottomcounterbore-like passage below a lateral discharge passage openingthrough the nozzle; while by part of the bias spring engaging structureon the upper part of the pin, the main bore is sealed, above the lateralpassage, against escape of the fire extinguishing substance movingtoward the nozzle. The valving head thus provided is simple instructure, further is adapted to safetying against accidental dischargeby simple wedge means, and the overall structure is adapted to retentionin a simple plastic stowage fixture as later described.

It is then the general object of the present invention to provide a fireextinguisher device having structure which eliminates certain markeddisadvantages of comparable types of prior art devices. Another and moreparticular object is to provide an extinguisher structure in which thesusceptibility to corrosion is minimized or obviated by useof syntheticplastic components. Another object is to provide an extinguisher Whichis simple in form and which can be fabricated at comparatively low cost.Other objects and advantages will appear from the following descriptionand the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical longitudinal or axial section through a hand fireextinguisher embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged quasi-exploded view showing a cartridge piercingpin "and valving member assembly separated into two parts;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are respectively side elevational and plan views of asafetying wedge;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical section taken similar to FIG. 1, througha discharge head and showing minor modifications from that of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged axial section of the neck region of the bottle;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the discharge head of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of a stowage fixture with a fireextinguisher device, such as that of FIG. 1, embraced therein;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the fixture of FIG. 8, without theextinguisher;

FIG. 10 is a vertical section through the fixture taken as indicated bythe line 9-9 in FIG. 8, the dashed circle representing the outline ofthe device stowed therein; and

FIG. 11 is an end view of the fixture and stowed extinguisher, takenfrom the left of FIG. 8.

In the description of the hand type fire extinguisher device shown inthe drawings as one embodiment of the invention and in the claims, forconvenience the device is considered as disposed vertically as in FIG.1, and the word top and bottom, and like terms of direction or relationto the device as a whole, are used on that assumption.

As seen in FIG. 1, the device comprises, as principal components, acylinder type pressure bottle as a container for a fire extinguishingsubstance to be discharged therefrom, especially an extinguishant powdersuch as kieselguhr; a valved discharge nozzle and hand grip headassembly 11 screwed onto the bottle neck 12; a powder discharge risertube 13 with the upper end engaged in the neck and extending coaxiallyin and substantially to the bottom of the bottle and having its lowerend beveled; and a replaceable elongated pressurized gas cartridge 14,for example a carbon dioxide cartridge, the male thread head 15 of whichis screwed into the bottom of a depending integral nipple or dischargetube portion 16 extending through the bottle neck from the hereinafterdescribed discharge head body element 17.

The bottle 10 is made of a thermoplastic synthetic plastic, for example,polyethylene including preferably at least local glass fiber reinforcingas partially indicated at 18. The bottle is aptly blow molded fromheated tubular stock in an appropriate mold. So also the riser tube 13is plastic, preferably a thermoplastic such as polyethylene.

The discharge head body element 17 similarly is made of a thermoplastic,such as polyethylene, and as an integral molded piece produced say byinjection molding, includes a hand grip 19 on the side opposite theradial discharge nozzle formation 20, the top of the body in the regionof the grip 19 having a flat bottomed broad groove at 19a for supportinga safetying wedge hereinafter described; a small top end recessformation 21, in which is pivoted by pin 22 the actuating and controllever 23 extending adjacent the grip 19 for thumb manipulation; and theintegral nipple-like coaxial tube portion 1 6 about which there is anannular bottom recess female threaded at 24 for receiving the bottleneck. In the region of nozzle 20, the head cross section is ratherrectangular for purposes to be described. The groove 19a also receivesthe depressed lever, affording operating clearance.

A vertical passage or bore 25, intersecting the radial nozzle passage atand enlarged at 25a as though counterbored from the bottom to provide avalve seat at 25b, puts the nozzle in communication with the bottleinterior through laterally opening ports 26 located in nipple 16 abovethe female threaded end receiving the pierceable cartridge head 15.

Between the curved inner end of the annular recess and the end of theneck 12 there is disposed a resilient gasket 27, such as an O-ring,which further may serve to seal the top end of the riser tube 13 and,where the beveled tube bears endwise against the bottle bottom, also toposition tube 13, rather than positioning by pressfitting or cementingit in the neck.

Thus nipple 16 and, aligned therewith, cartridge 14 are coaxially spacedfrom tube 13 to provide a powder passage from the bottom of the bottleto ports 26.

The bottom end 28 of the head body element is concave, correspondingapproximately to the convexity of the top end or shoulder region 29 ofthe bottle about the neck, and the side exterior of the body has acircumferential concavity at 30 resulting in a thin flexiblecircumferential tapering sharp-edged lip 31 at the bottom margin of thebody, which conduces to an excellent seal of the screwed-on head to thebottle top end shoulder 29 around the neck. FIG. 5 shows attainment of asimilar result by relieving further the body bottom to clear ahorizontal shoulder portion adjacent to the neck.

Further to obtain a good seal between the discharge head and bottle, amodified buttress type thread engagement is used (more clearly shown inFIGS. 5 and 6); the female thread 24- in the head being of conventionalbuttress profile or form with horizontal and sloped sides 24a, 24b, thethread root or bottom 240 being flat; while on the neck, the top side ofthe male thread 31, as seen in profile, curves outwardly at 31b anddownwardly to merge into the crest; which joins the bottom side 31a inprofile again perpendicular to the axis. Hence as the head is screwedonto the neck, the arcuately-sectioned side of the male thread issomewhat deformable to fit the female thread and thereby attain a tightseal despite the tolerances expected in the production of the threadedparts.

To pierce the diaphragm-like end closure on the carriage head 15 forreleasing gas into the bottle interior and to control the discharge ofthe device, the discharge head assembly (see also FIG. 2) includes a rod32 axially shiftably centered with clearance in passage 25 and having apiercing pointed bottom end; an enlargement as a valving member 34 onthe rod; and, in the top counterbore-like enlargement 250, a returnbiasing, spiral compression spring 40 interposed between a rod top endhead enlargement formation or button 33 and a nearly hemispherical sealwasher element 39, with convexity resting on the shoulder provided in250. The rounded end button 33 advantageously has a sliding sealingengagement with 250 and has a recess 35 in which engages a roundedbottom projection 42 of the lever 23, insuring operating clearance ofthe lever bottom from the top end of the discharge head body.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rod 32 is conveniently made in two pieces 32aand 32b, threaded together in alignment to facilitate manufacture andassembly in the discharge head. There the head 33' is a syntheticplastic button molded as shown about an upset end of the top rod half3212, to which the spring 40 and seal washer element then are applied toform an upper sub-assembly to be inserted from above into discharge headbody 17 before application of lever 23; while a lower sub-assemblycomprised of the bottom rod half 32a, with the resiliently sealing valvemember 34, made of suitable plastic molded on the rod in either the pearshape of FIG. 1 or the ball of FIG. Z, and further supported by a springring 41 in a corresponding rod groove, is then inserted from the bottomof the body 17, and the two rod halves screwed together. Washer 39serves to support slideably the rod 32 and under pressure of spring 40further to seal the rod to and close passage 25.

A safetying wedge 43, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, provided with a fingergrip hole 44 and having its apex bifurcated by a round notch 43a, isreadily molded from a suitable plastic, e.g. polyethylene, in width tobe readily inserted between the walls of the head groove 19a with theresilient notch arms at 43a embracing rod head button 33 and, ifdesired, extended to embrace the lever, for wedge retention insupporting the lever 23 in raised, nonactuatable position when thedevice is not beingused.

FIGS. 8-11 represent a one-piece uniformly walled stowage fitting orsupport bracket 46 for the extinguisher device, adapted again to befabricated from the thermoplastic material, for example, byblow-molding, to a cradle or trough-like form providing in a top wallportion 4611, a semi-cylindrical seat rounded at its ends retentativelyto embrace bottle 10' endwise and lengthwise and having one end recessedto form a slot 49 receiving the aforementioned rectangular narrowed partof the head element 17 between gripping resilient arms 48 having tips48a narrowing the slot mouth for retention of the head. Longitudinalgrooves 47a, 47b, 470, on the bottom wall and a similar top wall groove46c confer strength and necessary rigidity. 'Dhe fittings, of course,can be provided with appropriate screw holes for securement in theenvironment of use.

With the wedge withdrawn, the lever 23a can be pressed down, by thethumb of the users hand gripping the handle 19, to drive the pointed rodend through the cartridge head seal disk releasing the carbon dioxide topressurize bottle 10. The resiliency and deformability to the valvingmember may be such that the necessary axial piercing shift is achievedbefore sealing contact with seat 25b is lost to obviate need of quicklever release after piercing for avoiding excess gas and/or powder loss.Upon further downward lever shift, hence rod shift, sufficient to openthe valve, the fire extinguishing powder is carried with the gas upthrough riser 13, ports 26, around valve element 34 and out nozzle 20 inan aimable discharge of quantity controlled by the lever depressions.Release of the lever, by action of spring 40 closing the valve, causesthe valve to shut off flow.

I claim:

1. A hand fire extinguisher comprising:

a blow-molded thermoplastic synthetic plastic pressure bottle as avessel for containing an extinguishant. and having a male threaded topend neck;

and a discharge head assembly comprising a head body screwed on thebottle neck and formed as a unitary injection molded element including aprojecting hand grip, a female threaded bottom recess to receive saidneck,

\ a vertical coaxial through-passage and a lateral aperture extendinglaterally from a middle part of the through-passage to provide adischarge nozzle, and

means for supporting a compressed gas cartridge within the bottle andwith a pierceable cartridge end in opposed endwise alignment with saidpassage;

said head assembly further including valving rod means verticallyshiftably disposed in said passage valving said passage below thelateral aperture and adapted upon downward movement, both at its bottomend to pierce the pressurized gas cartridge and also above its bottomend to open said passage for escape to the nozzle of a pressure gasstream entraining said extinguishant.

2. A fire extinguisher as described in claim 1, with:

the top end of said bottle convexly shaped coaxially downwardly of saidneck;

the said head body having its underside inwardly arched toward saidrecess correspondingly to the contour of the upper end of the pressurebottle and having its lower exterior periphery concavely flaringdownwardly and outwardly to meet the inwardly arched underside at asharp angle, thereby forming a tapered sharp edged elastically bendablecircumferential lip sealingly engaging with the convex end of the bottlewhen the discharge head assembly is screwed onto the neck.

3. A fire extinguisher as described in claim 1, with:

the said vertical through-passage of the head body having top and bottomcounterbore-like end enlargements terminating in upper and lowershoulders respectively above and below said nozzle aperture;

the vertically shiftable rod means comprising an assembly comprised ofan upper rod section and a lower rod section connected by screwingtogether end-toend,

the upper rod section having a button secured on its top end andprovided with a central top recess, and guided in the top end of thepassage,

the lower rod section having at its bottom a piercing point and aboutits top end supporting an injection molded pear-shaped plasticenlargement as a valving element shiftably engageable with said lowershoulder to prevent gas escape from the lower end enlargement to saidnoule;

said head assembly including a sealing disk seatable on the uppershoulder and sealingly slidable on the upper rod section, as a sealagainst gas escape from the said middle part to the top end enlargementof the said through-passage,

a return bias helical compression spring disposed about the upper saidrod section and interposed between the underside of said button and thesaid sealing disk to seat the latter sealingly on said upper shoulder,

a manual actuating lever pivotally connected on the head body to extendacross and pivot toward and away from the upper end of said passage,

the lever underside having a downwardly projecting boss engageable inthe top recess of said button,

whereby said rod means may be assembled into said body by inserting saidupper rod section with said spring and disk thereon into the upper endof said passage, said lower rod section with the pear-shaped valvingelement thereon into the lower end of said passage, and thereafterscrewing said rod sections together.

4. A fire extinguisher as described in claim 1, with:

the said head body further including as the first said means anintegrally molded tubular nipple portion centrally disposed in saidbottom recess to be coaxially spaced from the female threads thereof,said tubular portion defining the lower end of said through-passage, andprojecting through said neck into the pressure bottle;

said tubular portion having its lower end threaded for an aligned screwconnection securement of a said gas cartridge with its upper endcomplementarily threaded, and

at least one radial escape opening through its wall,

above its said threaded lower end; and

a riser tube with upper end supported in said neck,

extending down into said bottle and substantially coaxially spacedaround said tubular portion and a said cartridge secured thereto.

5. A fire extinguisher as described in claim 3, having a safetyingelement inserted between the pivoted actuating lever and the top end ofthe head body to secure the lever against extinguisher actuatingmovement.

6. A fire extinguisher as described in claim 5, with:

the top end of the said head body having a grooved formation in whichthe pivoted actuating lever is receivable upon full depression, saidgroove formation adapted to serve as a seat for a wedge inserted undersaid lever as the said safetying element; and a said wedge provided atits outer end with an aperture horizontally transverse to itslongitudinal direction as a finger grip. 7. A fire extinguisher asdescribed in claim 5, with: said safetying wedge having its thinnerinner end notched to resiliently retentively grip a part of said headassembly when inserted in safetying disposition under said lever.

8. A fire extinguisher as described in claim 1, having the upper part ofsaid discharge head body, above the region of its screw connection tothe bottle, provided with a generally rectangular cross-sectionelongated in the direction of extent of said lever; and

in combination with a one-piece fire extinguisher receiving storagebracket of cradle-like form;

said bracket shaped to embrace the said bottle lengthwise and at bothends and having one end recessed to form a rectangular slot formationshaped to receive and resiliently retentively grip the correspondingrectangular cross-sectioned part of the discharge head body.

9. The fire extinguisher and bracket combination of claim 8, having saidbracket molded of a thermoplastic material.

10. A fire extinguisher as described in claim 2, wherein the threadedformations of said male threaded neck and of the female threaded bottomrecess of said discharge head body have a modified buttress threadedengagement, with the female thread generally of conventional buttressform and the male thread having that side, which in a normal buttressthread slopes from the root to the crest, as its top side and having aconvex section,

whereby upon screwing the head onto the bottle, the

convex side of the male thread is slightly deformable against thecorresponding side of the female thread conducive to an improved sealedrelation between 3,051,652 8/1962 Olandt 16931 R the discharge head andthe bottle. 3,105,458 10/1963 DOWIlham 169-31 R X References Cited 1 380055 IO/EIFGN PATENTS 169 31 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 "f' 2,739,917 3/1956Schulze 220-DIG 14 M HENSON WOOD 3 251 420 5/19 Rodgers 169 31 R T. C..CULP, JR., Assistant Exammer 2,904,305 9/1959 Novotny 16931 R X3,209,949 10/1965 Gurtler 169-31 RX 10 2, 10/1959 Duggan et 16931 R16931 R; 220-1110 14; 222-541; 239-309

